Tiling Kitchen Floor

When I first moved here & had floor tiling done, about 4-5yrs ago, the average price for tiling was around £35-£40 per sqm. The grout etc. was paid for by me, but chosen by the tiler as he had a preferred type/brand & he collected it also.

I'm not sure I'd be happy to do the primer myself as I thought the idea of getting somebody to do the required work was so you didn't have to.

You might be better off by trying to find a multi skilled trades person rather than a tiler. When I had my bathroom done a couple of years ago I used somebody like this. Despite living in the SE, which is usually pretty pricey as far as trades go, he charged me £160 per day for a variety of jobs & did an average of 10 hrs a day, taking only 30mins for lunch. He is my go to person now for the majority of jobs that need doing.

The tiler is being a hardass, get them to do the entire job. Primers & adhesives aren't all compatible with each other and the tiler needs to use his skill and KNOWLEDGE to do a proper, decent job. Get someone else who will do the whole job levelling, priming and laying tiles.

Case in point. The tiler will need to prime as he goes along, one primed, the surface should not be walked on. It needs to be left clean, it becomes tacky when primed and all dirt and dust will stick to it. You can't prime the whole kitchen once and then do the tiling all over. That's not going to work. Primer takes 1-2 hours to dry, I'd say closer to 1 hour with the current weather.

I would advise against using a general builder for these slightly artistic trades. Laying tiles well is an art and to get the best results you need to use someone whose laid tiles day in day out and only does tiling. I've seen bad tiling jobs, tiles not level, grout was uneven etc. Not worth saving £100 getting a cheap general builder doing a sup par job. People keep the same tile in their kitchens for 10-15 years, do the job right I say.

The price is fair for a proper tiler, it's a backbreaking, strenous job. It goes on for several days. 1 day to level the floor and prep it, 2 days to tile in and come back final day to grout it, grouting requires the tiles to set for at least 24 hours.